Yes, the same Hulls who was a career 87 percent foul shooter coming into the game. The same Hulls, who over a two-year span hit 58 free throws in a row, a Big Ten record.

Still, after Hulls missed his first three foul shots Sunday against Northwestern, Carmody told his players to foul the senior guard. Hulls responded by hitting all four of free throws in the final minute as No. 2 Indiana held on for a 67-59 road victory over Northwestern.

Carmody's reasoning was simple. He thought Hulls was in a slump. He saw Hulls miss three free throws in a row Tuesday against Wisconsin, the first time in his career he had done that. When Hulls missed his first three Sunday, Carmody simply thought he was the best player to foul.

Hulls's reaction in the post game interview was pretty much what you'd expect.

"That's fine,'' Hulls said. "Put me on the line.''

Hulls' free throws in the closing minute, as well as two by junior guard Victor Oladipo, allowed Indiana (16-2, 4-1 Big Ten) to hold on and bounce back from Tuesday's home loss against Wisconsin to win its third Big Ten road game in as many tries.

In the first four seasons under IU head coach Tom Crean, Indiana went 4-32 on the road in conference play. Last year, IU was 3-6 away from Assembly Hall in Big Ten play. Now, the Hoosiers are 3-0 on the road and 1-1 at home to open conference play this season. Go back to last year and IU has won four conference road games in a row and five of the last six.

You could make the argument though that Sunday's game at Welsh-Ryan Arena was a lot closer to a home game than a road game. The capacity crowd of 8,117 was decidedly pro-Indiana. One Northwestern reporter estimated that there were more than 5,000 IU fans in the building. He probably wasn't too far off.

One moment seemed to really bring that point home late in the game. An IU lead that had been as high as 17 in the first half had been trimmed to five with six and a half minutes to play. Indiana led by eight at 51-43 when Victor Oladipo knocked down a big 3-point shot from the left wing to put the Hoosiers up 11.

Generally in that situation, that shot would have been a dagger that would quiet the home crowd. In this case, however, it was like an infusion of energy. The crowd was on its feet and as loud as ever.

Making Oladipo's shot there and his two free throws with 15.3 seconds to play even more impressive was that he apparently shot them with a blurry right eye. With just under 11 minutes to play he was poked in the eye by Northwestern's Dave Sobolewski on his follow through of a made 3-point attempt. Oladipo had to come out of the game but was back a few minutes later.

When he walked off the Welsh-Ryan floor, after getting dressed in the locker room, Oladipo had a patch over his right eye.

So how was Indiana able to bounce back Sunday on the road?

Consider this:

The Hoosiers forced Northwestern away from the basket, particularly in the first half when the Wildcats shot 30 percent from the field and were limited to 17 points. IU led 31-17 at the break.

Cody Zeller missed his first three shots from the field but then went 6-of-8 to finish the game. He had 21 points and 13 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the season and second of the week. He also had 23 points and 10 rebounds against Wisconsin.

When Northwestern crawled back into the game late, IU hit three big shots in a row. Zeller tipped in a missed Hulls 3-point shot, Oladipo hit the 3, and then Will Sheehey hit a 17 foot jumper from the left base. Those shots seemed to right the ship.

Crean said he was most pleased about the way his team played on the defensive end.

"One thing I had to remind our players of, because they never read about it or hear about it, is that they're in the top 10 in field goal percentage defense,'' Crean said. "They're in top 10 in field goal percentage offense and defense nationally and I thought they needed to be reminded that when we do those things, we're pretty good.

"Our key is that we've just got to stay locked in to what we're doing and try to stay away from all of the clutter and noise and all of those things that can distract you and there's so much of it. You just have to stay locked in to the things that are important.''

Reggie Hearn led Northwestern (11-8, 2-4) with 22 points. Earlier in the week, the Wildcats had defeated Illinois on the road, 68-54. Sunday, their only lead was at 4-3.